Image: Valve Software
It didn't bring Half-Life 3, but Half-Life 2's 20th anniversary celebration is still very worthwhile for fans of the iconic series.
Valve Software’s seminal sci-fi game Half-Life 2 has officially turned 20 years old, and the developer is marking the occasion with a big drop of new Half-Life-related content. A new anniversary update has launched with various graphical improvements plus a documentary, in-game commentary tracks, and more.
Happy anniversary, Half-Life fans!
Valve celebrates Half-Life 2’s 20th anniversary with all kinds of new stuff
Half-Life 2, the sci-fi first-person shooter starring Gordon Freeman and his trusty crowbar, is officially 20 years old. Developer Valve Software is celebrating the game’s big 20-year anniversary with an all-new anniversary update that bundles the game with Half-Life 2: Episode One, Episode Two, and Lost Coast – all of which were previously only available separately.
The update also includes a wide range of fixes and improvements. Steam Workshop and Steam game recording support have been added to the game, along with visual updates like rebalanced lighting, cleaner horizons, and different options for blood and fire FX. Every map in the game has also been given another look by Valve’s level designers to fix “longstanding bugs, restore content and features lost to time, and improve the quality of a few things like lightmap resolution and fog.” In-game aim assist is also getting an overhaul.
In addition to all this, Half-Life 2 fans are getting a ton of juicy behind-the-scenes content to chew on. The original developers of Half-Life 2 have been reassembled to provide commentary tracks for the entire game, offering insights on how these levels came about in the first place. Documentary crew Secret Tape has also put together a new documentary video diving into “the game's development, how we almost ran out of money, what it was like when we were hacked, what happened when we were sued by our publisher, the birthplace of Steam, and much more.”
Half-Life 2 is also free-to-keep on Steam until November 18 (later today). You can find more details on the game’s anniversary update in Valve’s patchnotes here.
